Hey everyone, David C. Andersen here coming at you from the
KnifeCenter and welcome to episode 146 of KniFAQ, where I
answer all your questions sharp or dull this week. One of the
questions we're asking is, how many knives do you actually
carry every day?
Like to buy a vowel,
you'd like to buy a vowel, would you? It's, it shouldn't be a
provocative question, but it kind of is, isn't it? I think
some of you will agree. Anyway, welcome to the series. If you're
unfamiliar with it, what we do is we pull out questions from
the comment section below these videos. So if you got a
question, and you would like it to be considered for a future
episode, comment section will be your best friend drop it down
below. First question today comes from Andrew Fornia 8817,
Skeletool plus Huntsman easy to carry complementary tools,
you've never looked at that combo that I've seen. I haven't
ever looked at a combo like this because I don't really often
consider a pair of multi tools being like a primary carry. So
it's interesting to think about where you're coming from. And I
could kind of see this as a combo of tools right here. The
way it would kind of shake out for me would be husband would be
your primary knife primary user. For just day to day stuff, you
got your knife blade, you got scissors, you got to saw the
daily. That's probably not the biggest user for most folks,
secondary blade, some some capability of screwdriving and
prying with the the two tools right here, both flathead,
smaller planet and certain Phillips right there. And then
some tools on the back as well. Then when you need more than
this can offer can reach for the skillet tool, one hand opening
blade, partial serrations for greater shearing, or greater
ripping power, or shall we say, the pliers of course and better
driving capabilities, thanks to the expandability of
Leatherman's flat bid system. So you got two phillips head right
there and two flathead in the form of an extra bit stored in
the handle. Of course, they are a bottle opener, which you can
do that with the the huntsman as well. So it got me thinking this
is a little bit different than what I tend to use as a
complementary set of tools. And I'm going to use this as a
jumping off point to talk about or to invite you folks out there
to talk about what you actually carry to carry day to day, what
do you pair together. And I'll get to some of my thoughts in a
minute. But one of the things in a way, this feels kind of
halfway there. Stick with me the advantage of having a plier head
here. And a separate multi tool would be the ability to hold a
bolt or something stationary while twisting with the other.
And as such, the Skeletool has like the better twisting and the
better applying capabilities built in so you might even be
able to push. Push that a little further depending on what other
multi tool you're pairing with. But here's what I have typically
done in the past. Longtime viewers of this channel will
know I'm a big fan of the Victorinox EVO grip s 18. My
logic being you know, a Swiss army knife or similar sized
multi tool is just way too handy not to have on and about your
person every day. And this just happens to be my particular
model of choice when I'm carrying a Swiss army knife. But
the things you don't get from a Swiss army knife that you can
get from you know, more enthusiast friendly, standalone
blades, one hand opening better steel and nimbleness as well.
There are multi tools out there that have more premium premium
steel and one hand open ability of the New Leatherman ARC
especially it's quite nice, but even those are a little bit
bulky. So I would always pair this on my belt and a little
horizontal belt sheath with a primary folder. But if I'm
really being honest, I would almost always have the
Leatherman Wave as well in my bag, the backpack that I bring
to work every day. In a way this is kind of a similar combo as
the Huntsman and Skeletool see how I am very skillfully
displaying all these ones, aren't I? Maybe Thomas will have
some better better footage for that but maybe not. No
guarantees. So I get it. I've also been trying to kind of
minimize that as well. I got tired of you know, just knowing
I had the extra weight and bulk in the bag that I may only
occasionally use and also I may not have my bag with me. So I've
been exploring some some other options for smaller much smaller
multi tools that kind of combined the two of these
functions, the SOG, PowerPoint, PowerPoint... Power Pint is a an
example of the sort of thing I'm looking at. But I'm also could
have been carrying around one of those little Knippex, four inch
pliers that all the YouTubers are going crazy about nowadays,
than I just realized, though, I thought it was down to two,
because we're not gonna count the extra pair of pliers.
There's another knife, we are counting multi tools is knives
in this equation, though. But I've been exploring the idea of
carrying a little retractable utility blade holder as well.
So I'm back up to three, add one more, another, another,
rinse and repeat. And this is not counting the fact that my
bag may have several other knives in it. Because I work in
the knife industry and often have more knives and actually
need or am actually intending to use on a given day. They're
there for other reasons. Yeah, some backups on backups of three
in a way on some days, but they're all my personnel. I'm
not. It's not in a backup back. But how many is too many, I
guess is the implication behind this question. And to me three
is starting to feel like a little much for me, but maybe
not. How many knives do you carry on your person? How many
knives is too many knives do you think to carry on your person?
Or? And are any of those knives you carry with you on a daily
basis? In a bag? To supplement what is on your person?
genuinely curious to know. And how many folks relating to our
initial question are here carry to multi tools every day? I
guess that's an even more interesting question. And what
I'm even more interested to find out to hear from you folks, how
are you carrying your tools because I don't often think
about to multi tools as part of an EDC loadout. And then you
guys can expand my mind on the way you folks are thinking about
it. So thanks in advance for the comments. Next question comes
from Joe Soriano. 6598 Hey DCA, I am getting married at the end
of the year. Congratulations. And I want to gift some cigar
cutters for my groomsmen as the groomsmen friends as the gift.
I'm in the range of 150 to $250 for a budget. Love the channel
and content from a fellow knife junkie Joe Suriano. Thank you,
sir. Well, I guess it congratulations. Oh, you didn't
mention if your budget was for the total for the gifts for all
of your groomsmen in which case wouldn't need to kind of know
the number of groomsmen in your wedding party as well. Or
whether that 150 to 250 50 is per gift. So I'll give you two
options. The first the Due Cigni from Fox cigar cutter. These are
like $46 made in Maniago. Italy, I think they're made in Maniago.
They're made in Italy. In any case, just a simple, classic,
nice feeling set. There's a kind of She didn't give me the case
on this.
You didn't ask for case.
There's a small leather case that comes with this as well
kind of classing things up and making it a little easier to
carry without worry of slippage going on elsewhere. But
hopefully that will kind of give you what you need in a range
that you give it to all your groomsmen like this is like $46
So assuming you know 250 is the top end of your budget that can
take care of five groomsmen right there or four plus one for
yourself matching gift is it's kind of nice sometimes. But if
you do have that higher budget that we talked about another fox
product, the cigar club Cigar Cutter comes in just over 100
bucks. To start there are some more expensive versions with
fancier materials. This thing is kind of awesome. Like it's a
little overcomplicated in the best way cigar cutting you know
smoking a cigar for most, most men who don't often smoke cigars
is kind of like an event and something like this kind of
enhances the event specialness of it because it's just so out
there creates a bit of a spectacle very very cool. Like
just over 100 bucks a well under the budget if there's there's a
for your individuals and one at the top and your budget budget.
$255 is the red horse Condor cigar cutter. dual purpose here
you've got cigar snipping right there let me through this side
and you've got actually seven knuckles as well. That's the
vibe you're going for this could be another really cool option.
Congratulations again. Next questions come a question comes
from BNL Jenny This is regarding the kitchen knives and
toughness. How does hardness and heat treat factor in I found
that the European style chef's knives have both a less acute
edge angle and softer steel on the rockwell scale then Japanese
knives like this shooting right here for example, which contract
which contributes to the Japanese knives being more prone
to chipping if handled Roughly how does hardness relate to
toughness? Well, generally speaking, the harder a steel is,
the less tough the steel is and more brittle as a result,
basically. And for each steel, it has its given kind of ideal
range of usable hardness. And that number is going to be
different depending on what steel, I don't have like exact
examples right here. But the VG 10 core on the shun classic
santoku is going to be different than of course, the x 50 Mo,
whatever I can never remember what was staff uses on their
classic chef knife right here, ideal hardness on this steel
tends to be a little bit lower. The interesting thing is, you
could have the same hardness number on the Wusthof steel as
you do on the VG 10s stainless. And it's gonna be obviously
they're going to perform differently, that toughness is
going to be different between the two of them getting off
track here a little bit, I apologize. But anyway, each each
given steel has a quote unquote, ideal range that's unique to it,
compared to other steels for performance and a knifemaker can
treat towards the higher end of that range. If they want to get
more edge retention out of that steel, or they could treat to
the lower end of that range. If they want more toughness in the
given design, or find a happy medium somewhere in the middle.
He treats though, the final number is only one part of it,
each steel has the sort of recommended way to arrive at
that hardness number. So let's say I don't know how hard this
is was like 58 rockwell 56. rockwell, I don't know. Let's
just posit for a minute that it is 56, shall we? Acceptable?
Sure. All right, let's just say it's 56. rockwell, I don't know
what the actual number is. If you arrive at that final
hardness number the wrong way. You might have a brittle and
functioning steel blade here. Some steels might need to be
held at a certain temperature for a certain amount of time to
help the grain structure form correctly. Before it's brought
down to its final hardness. Yeah, it's a difference of like,
you know, you fatten up a calf super fast, it's not going to be
as tasty as something that's gotten to the ideal weight in a
slower fashion. So shall we say?
Right? I'm thinking engine break-in periods.
Like, yes, that can kinda kind of apply here. But yeah, so
there's a little bit in the weeds. But broadly speaking, how
does you know hardness relate to toughness, the harder something
is, the less tough it is. And sometimes you'll see knives, you
know, come thicker to give the steel more strength at a given
hardness to compensate for that. But that's some broad strokes,
right there. Anyway, I hope that helps. I hope I was cogent
enough in my responses there. I felt like I was meandering a
little bit. So I apologize if that's the case. Anyway. Now we
come to the lightning round for today, which first question
comes from KJ Malleus? Here's a question for DCA and Seth. Oh, I
didn't ask Seth about this. It doesn't matter. It's the same
thing. I'm looking towards a compression lock system to add
to the collection. But I really would prefer to keep costs as
low as I can. As I'm starting to design that's still exclusive to
Spyderco. More on that in a minute. I'm aware that they'll
still be expensive. But what would be the cheapest example I
could get my hands on. Thanks for the content always learned
something new here. No problem. Interestingly, the patent for
the compression like has run out of vos dt, I think is the only
ones who have kind of picked up on it so far. They're doing it
differently than Spyderco with a an actual button actuated
mechanism similar to the smock from Spyderco, actually, and
they can't call it the compression lock, just like
crossbar lock makers can't call their crossbar locks AXIS Lock.
Anyway, this is real easy answer to arrive to using the filters
on the website super easy. You go to the folding knife section
of the website, select compression lock on the filters
and then filter it from there. Price low to high. And you will
find that the least expensive compression locking knife on the
site right now the Para 3 lightweight $124 and some change
with more like a three inch blade with BDZ1 and steel and
the lightweight handles and of course the compression locks
that you can flick open, I promise. Yeah, real simple to
use the filters on the website. But in case you forgot, it's
always a good reminder for folks out there. All right, next
question comes from D, DEANC. DeanC? DeanC 2330... 2322. So
this guy his name, I don't know why I tripped over that so much.
should probably read these beforehand would be a good idea
maybe I should start doing that I'm looking for a folding knife
with fingers safe closing, and No choil. Choil catches and
hinders cutting when using the full length of the blade with
rope, etc. Thanks, Thomas for all you do and put up with Do I
ever know what I have to put up with man? Anyway, simple answer,
the pm to or the Para 3, lightweight or non lightweight
here and you're correctly using the term toil the way it was,
has traditionally been used. There is no sharpening choil or
sharpening notch that some might call it for instance, this
Leatherman Wave has one right there, as opposed to the finger
choil, which Spyderco uses here, although one could argue it's
not a finger choil but we're not going to get into that. So this
does have a finger choil but no sharpening choil with which to
catch things you're cutting on. When you're cutting close to the
heel. Check those out compression like very finger
safe, very fun. Very useful. Anyway. Next question comes from
Chris O'Keefe. What's the best USA made assisted opener under
$100. At that price range, you're limited to pretty much
Kershaw Gerber and bear ops. But the one that really stands out
to me comes right in 99.95. Right now is the link, aluminum
handles 20 CV blade steel three and a quarter inches long enough
grip there for bigger jobs despite it not being a huge
knife. Really, really good knife and SpeedSafe assisted opening.
Fit and finish is great made in the US like you want it. Price
is good. In fact, a dare dare I say it holidays coming up. This
hits a lot of marks. If that's the kind of budget you're
looking for, for a knife gift. A lot of folks like American made,
you've got great materials and a great design. Not not too big
but still able to get big stuff done. I would check that knife
out if I were you. And now we come to our final question of
the day, which is of course, our most serious question of the
day, which today comes from Charles Ramirez 5126. Hey, DCA
is knife and instrument. What knife could be used as a musical
instrument? I don't know for sure what the best answer for
that is going to be. But as with anything musical, tonality
related and music, you'd have to make sure your pitch is spot on.
And that's where this is going to come in. Super essential.
This is the Boker plus tech tool fork comes in about $73 and it
is a tuning fork.
Which leads me to a question for Thomas. What's the difference
between a pocket knife and a fish?
I can tuna fish? You can't tuna fish? That's the. you ruined my
joke. Haven't tried hard enough. You can't tuna fish but you can
turn a pocket knife. What seems to be a fixed pitch? Yeah,
that's all you need. You can easily start there and that's
your your route pitch. That's your reference pitch anyway,
until Thomas is not very musical I guess. That's all we have time
for for today. Thank you folks for your questions. Let me know
what you thought of the answers on if you have any alternate
suggestions. How many of you out there daily more than one multi
tool, multiple multi tools I would like to hear from that
contingent especially but anyone if you've got your own questions
again, leave them below. If you want to get your hands on any of
these knives, check out the links in the description that
will take you to KnifeCenter.com And don't forget, of course
about our long running knife rewards program, which lets you
earn money back towards a future knife. When you buy a knife
today. You can get 5% back if you save up all your points. And
if you buy double points items, you can actually get even a
bigger percentage back. I'm David C. Andersen from the
KnifeCenter and that's Thomas behind the camera. We're signing
off. See you next time.